A's History: Jon Lester, Frank Menechino and Joe Keough

With 2024 potentially being the last season of A's baseball in Oakland, it's going to be a season of reflection of all of the memories that we have shared at the Coliseum. With that in mind, this year we are going through each and every player that has worn the green and gold and writing up a couple of paragraphs about their time with the A's, their careers, and sometimes a wacky story from their life in an effort to bring back memories, and perhaps even learn a thing or two about the franchise so many have grown attached to.

Yesterday we celebrated Dick Tomanek, who was part of the trade that sent future home run king Roger Maris to the A's, and Tom Ferrick, who told the Royals to draft George Brett. 

January 7^th birthdays: Dérmis Garcia, Jon Lester, Frank Menechino and Joe Keough

Dérmis Garcia

Garcia was born in 1998 and signed on with the New York Yankees in 2014. He showed off a ton of power in the Yankee system, topping out at 31 home runs in Double-A in 2021, but was granted free agency following that season. The Oakland A's signed him ahead of the 2022 campaign, and after smacking 13 home runs and batting .264 with a .349 OBP in Las Vegas, he was called up to Oakland for 39 games. 

With the A's Garcia hit .207 with a .264 OBP, but it was his 44% strikeout rate that needed to change. He spent the offseason between the '22 and '23 seasons working on shortening his swing, but the A's brought in Rule 5 pick Ryan Noda and veteran Jesús Aguilar to man first base in Oakland, leaving Garcia in Triple-A. 

He ended up hitting .263 with a .359 OBP and 12 homers in 45 Triple-A games, but his strikeout rate was higher than it had been the previous season in the minors and he ended up getting released in June. 

Gacia signed on with the Washington Nationals in December and has a shot to make it back to the big leagues with some solid production. 

Jon Lester

Lester was born in 1984 in Tacoma, Washington and was selected by the Boston Red Sox in the second round of the 2002 Draft. He won two World Series titles with the Sox in 2007 and 2013, and allowed just one run total in those 21 World Series innings. 

After being eliminated by the Detroit Tigers (or Justin Verlander) in 2012 and 2013, the A's front office felt that they needed a shutdown ace to advance in the postseason in 2014. Lester was available, and they A's went out and got him. It also cost them their biggest power threat in Yoenis Céspedes, which hurt the offense the rest of the way. The left-hander went 6-4 with a 2.35 ERA for the A's in 11 regular season starts. 

When it came time for Lester to shine in the 2014 AL Wild Card against the Kansas City Royals, he pitched fairly well for the first seven innings, and the A's held a 7-3 lead. Then, in the eighth, he allowed two singles, two stolen bases and a walk before giving way to Luke Gregerson. All three runners Lester allowed came around to score, and it was all of a sudden a 7-6 game. 

The A's ended up losing this one in extras, but it's not entirely Lester's fault. Sure, he couldn't throw to first base to keep the runners close, but the bullpen didn't do their job either. 

Lester went on to sign with the Chicago Cubs that off-season, helping them break their own World Series curse in 2016. Lester pitched well in every postseason aside from 2014, and that is why many A's fans are still mad at him (and that trade) a decade later. 

Frank Menechino

Menechino was born in 1971 in Staten Island, NY and was selected by the Chicago White Sox in the 45^th round of the 1993 Draft. He came to the A's in 1997 in the minor league draft, and made his MLB debut in 1999, getting into nine games. He played 51 games at second base for Oakland in 2000, with most of that time coming in April as Randy Velarde recovered from injury. 

Menechino's most consistent playing time came in 2001 after the A's traded Velarde to Texas in a deal that netted them Aaron Harang. Frankie was the A's full-time second baseman in '01, playing in 139 games, and he hit .242 with a .369 OBP. That OBP was the third-highest on the team behind Jason Giambi (.477), who finished second in the AL MVP voting and had the highest OBP in the baseball, and his brother, Jeremy Giambi, who finished with a .391. 

One of the lasting memories A's fans have of Menechino is the game in '01 against the Yankees where he took Andy Pettitte deep in the fifth, and then in the bottom of the tenth he singled home Mark Bellhorn for the game-winning run. Wins against the juggernaut Yankees back then were a big deal. 

Menechino stayed with the A's through 2004, but the arrival of Mark Ellis and Marco Scutaro limited his playing time over those remaining years. He played two more seasons in the bigs with the Toronto Blue Jays, then signed on with the Reds, Yankees, Rockies and Padres but never made it back to The Show. His final season came in the Italian Baseball League in 2008. He was most recently the hitting coach for the Chicago White Sox from 2020-2022.

Joe Keough

Keough was born in 1946 in Pomona, CA and was the A's second-ever draft selection in 1965 after the club took Rick Monday with the first overall pick. After playing in 136 games in A Ball in 1967 and batting .294, he was promoted to Double-A Birmingham to begin the 1968 season where he hit .299 over 87 games. He was promoted to Oakland in August. The first at-bat of his career came as a pinch-hitter against the Yankees, and Keough took Lindy McDaniel deep to tie the game up at 3-3. Reggie Jackson would single home the game-winning run in the tenth. 

With the A's in 1968 he hit .214 as a 22-year-old across 34 games. 

The following off-season he was selected by the Kansas City Royals with the eighth pick in the 1968 expansion draft and ended up playing at Municipal Stadium in Kansas City, the A's old home, while Kaufmann Stadium was built. He hit .250 and held an 83 OPS+ in his four seasons with the Royals. 

Keough was traded by the Royals to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for Jim Lyttle (who was then purchased by the Expos). Keough played in just five games with the Sox and got just one plate appearance in 1973, and that one resulted in a double play. The other four games he played with Chicago he was used as a pinch runner. 

Keough passed away in 2019 in San Antonio, TX. 

Tomorrow's birthdays: Ken Waldichuk, Jeff Francis, Jason Giambi, Reno Bertoia, Bert Kuczysnki, Don White, Al Reiss, Art Ewoldt, and Bill Bartley.